Haunted?
by knockout34
Summary: It's Halloween time in LA. While Alan and Amita make plans for the holiday, the team gets called to investigate what's going on inside an old, run-down post office. Another "New Assignment" story. Don't own Numb3rs.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I'm trying my best to make this case as real as possible. However, I am not a cop, FBI agent, forensic scientist, or a mathematician, so please excuse any errors. I also realize that "Robin Hood" happened around Halloween in season 4, but, for the purpose of this story, Halloween takes place a few weeks after "Black Swan". Thanks again for reading!**

Charlie felt something was off. He looked up from his grading as the TV hockey announcer shouted the new score and quickly realized that his brother had not made a sound.

"Hey, bro, you okay?" he asked, pushing his student's paper to the side. Don grunted, a sound that Charlie took to mean 'not really, but I don't want to talk about it'. But Charlie, feeling that he knew what was up, tried anyway. "Is this about your recent disagreement with Megan?"

"How'd you...?"

"Ah, Larry said she's been pondering it, too."

"Yeah?" Don asked. He sat up a little straighter, keen to hear what was going on.

"For the record, he didn't say much," Charlie panicked, realizing that he might have said too much already. "And I don't want to passing gossip along here."

"Oh, come on, Charlie."

"Okay, okay, I will say this: Larry hinted that Megan might have been fine with your choice to hold Meechum, you know, before her assignment for the DOJ," Charlie said, talking to the floor before taking a glance up at Don. Don sat back against the couch and sighed.

"That assignment really screwed her up, didn't it?" he asked.

"It definitely seems that way," Charlie admitted. Any further conversation was interrupted when Alan and Amita walked through the kitchen door, both carrying large paper bags.

"What's this?" Don asked, smiling to cover the serious conversation that had just taken place.

"Alan witnessed the Cal Sci Halloween tradition today," Amita said.

"What?"

"Students dip pumpkins in liquid nitrogen and then drop them from the roof of the library," Charlie explained.

"Well, it got me thinking," Alan said. " We've never really been a big Halloween family, but with all the kids in the neighborhood, I thought it would be fun to start our own traditions."

"You're going to start to pass out candy again?" Charlie asked.

"In costume," Amita grinned.

"Really?" Don asked.

"I don't see anything wrong with that," Alan said.

"There's not, Dad, it's just surprising," Don said. "What are you going as?"

"I'm not ruining the surprise. Oh, and I'm expecting everyone else to show up in costume."

"Show up to what?" Don asked, before being interrupted by his phone ringing. "Eppes? Okay, I'll be right there," he hung up his phone and looked at the others. "I gotta get, guys, have fun," he smirked.

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Don parked his SUV alongside the other cop cars surrounding an old building.

"What'd you say, Liz?" he asked the agent as he met her by the front door.

"Hey," Liz said. "Old post office. This place has been shut down for over a year now; the use of email and the internet caused cutbacks so they merged with the neighboring town. Building's been up for sale but no takers."

"So, who found it?"

"High school teacher and five students," Liz said, nodding to the group that was being interviewed by another FBI agent and LAPD. "City council approved a request by the high school's National Honor Society to set up their annual Halloween haunted house here instead of their school gym. They showed up this morning to see the building's layout and start planning for this weekend," she explained.

"Yeah, and weren't expecting to find this."

"Guy's a biology and forensics teacher and most of the kids watch crime shows on TV, needless to say, I don't think there's much emotional scarring on this one."

"Yeah? One less thing to worry about then. Looks like the door handle was smashed," Don said, peering over the top of his sunglasses at the handle that was barely hanging on to the door.

"Techs found a broken paperclip lodged in the lock," Liz said. "Probably thought they could pick it but then got impatient."

"There are instructions all over the internet for picking locks right? So we're probably looking at amateurs."

"Problem is, that's not what the inside says; it's a whole different story."

She led Don in through the lobby and to the old mail-room. The windows were covered in black spray paint and the ground was wet with small puddles gathered in several areas. In the middle of the room sat a small armchair that was covered in blood. There was duct tape on the arms and legs of the chair, making it look like someone had been tied down.

"Is there a leak somewhere?" Don asked, shaking some water off his shoes.

"Not that we can find," Megan said, approaching the pair. "LAPD found this though," she held up a small evidence bag with a cap in it. "It goes to one of those five gallon bottles for water coolers."

"Brought the water to clean up, maybe? Everything but the chair is clean," Liz suggested.

"Maybe," Don said. "No trace of a body? That's definitely enough blood to suppose murder I'd think."

"No, not even a trail of blood out any of the doors. And the water doesn't really seem to have any blood in it either, so they had to have been really careful," Megan said.

"Yeah, okay, that definitely doesn't match the sloppiness of the door handle," Don said.

"We also found a digital camera and some sidewalk chalk," Megan said.

"Chalk? Why don't you get Kailey or Colby on that and see if you can find what's on that camera. Liz, why don't you grab David and interview some of the people in the neighborhood."

"On it."


	2. Chapter 2

Don entered the bullpen where David, Liz, Colby, and Kailey were waiting for him.

"Alright, what do we have?" he asked in general.

"We interviewed the neighbors like you asked," David started. "Turns out, there's been a lot of activity around that building for the last several weeks."

"Yeah, like what?"

"People said they heard noises, some even mentioned seeing lights coming from inside," Liz said. "LAPD was called several times, but by the time they got there, there was nothing. Got an officer sending over the reports."

"Alright, good, we might be able to find something in those that they missed."

"Techs ran that camera found at the scene," Colby said, holding it up. "But there's nothing on it."

"Nothing?" Don asked, a little surprised and disappointed.

"No prints and nothing on the internal memory or the SD card," Colby answered as Megan joined them.

"Hey guys, I have results of the water test from lab. There are no traces of the blood in it but they found a lot of chalk particles."

"So that means the chalk was probably used on the floor, right?" Liz said.

"Well, the walls weren't wet, so unless they took something out of there..." Don stated.

"Like what, though? We still don't know what the hell happened," Colby said.

"Okay, well, I have a theory on that," Megan said. "It's not very complex, but you know, it is Halloween. We could be looking at some sort of ritual."

"Like what, cult?" Don asked.

"It's possible. I caught, like, seven of those kinds of cases back with LAPD," Kailey said. "It's not unheard of around here."

"Okay, Megan, why don't you and Liz roll with that, see what you can dig up. David, we'll stay with the LAPD reports. You guys take the camera," Don said to Kailey and Colby, "run it over to Charlie, he might be able to see if there's any way to hide anything on it."

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"So, what do you make of this cult stuff?" Colby asked Kailey as he drove them to Cal Sci. Kailey glanced at him over the file she was reading and shrugged.

"It's our best lead right now. And, I mean, yeah, this kind of stuff does tend pop in my head around Halloween. People like to do crazy things during this time of year," Kailey answered.

"So, you hate Halloween?"

"I never said that. I mean, sure, I don't typically look forward to working this time of year, but that doesn't mean I boycott the holiday; it was my favorite as a kid. Why?" she asked him.

"Just asking," Colby said. He became very intent on watching the traffic in front of him. Kailey considered him for a moment.

"Oh, god, Granger," Kailey said, grinning incredulously and rolling her eyes.

"What?!" Colby laughed.

"You know, for your information, I work the Halloween dance at the community center. Last year I went as a zookeeper; I was in cargo pants and a t-shirt."

"Shame," Colby grinned teasingly.

"Shut up," Kailey laughed, pushing his shoulder.

"Hey, watch it, I'm driving," he laughed.

"Anyway," Kailey said, reverting the conversation back to the case, "you know, the cult thing actually explains the differences in MOs between the door and the mail room."

"Right, because cult rituals are often carefully planned and sometimes even practiced, but there people probably aren't versed in break-ins."

"On the other hand, the various noise complaints could be completely unrelated. Maybe some teens are using it as a hangout and that's where the paperclip came into play," Kailey said.

"Hopefully Charlie can find something and point us in a better direction," Colby answered, pulling the car into a parking spot at Cal Sci. They walked into one of the buildings and headed for Charlie's office. The professor was sitting at his desk, buried in a book when the two knocked on the door.

"Oh, hey," Charlie said, closing the book and standing. "Don called and said you were coming. Apparent murder at an old post office?"

"Yeah, that's the assumption right now anyway," Colby said. "We found this camera at the scene. Our techs examined it but couldn't find anything. We were hoping you might be able to dig something up."

"We're just hoping for more clues. You know, maybe there's something hidden on it?" Kailey said as Charlie put the SD card into his laptop.

"Sure, you know about partitions, right?"

"Yeah, you can divide your hard drive into sections for better storage," Kailey answered.

"And then there's phantom partitions right?" Colby asked. "You found one of those for us a few years ago."

"Yeah, Lamberg used a phantom partition to hide some of his files," Charlie said, frowning at the memory of the past case. "The same thing can be done with SD cards and flash drives on a smaller scale. And there is a tell-tale sign with these smaller drives."

"How so?" Colby asked.

"Think of a dresser drawer," Charlie explained. "From the outside, it seems normal. When you open the drawer, you can see that it's storing objects, likes socks. But on closer inspection, you may find out that there are less socks being held in the drawer then what the depth would allow. You reach into the bottom of the drawer, and pull out a panel, revealing a hidden compartment for money or jewelry... It's the same thing with these smaller drives. It's pretty obvious to see that there is storage room missing."

"But don't some drives come with software that takes up some of the space?" Kailey asked.

"Yes, but that's only going to take up a few kilo or megabytes. On this SD card, we're short almost two and a half gigabytes. Let me find Amita and we'll dig into the code on this thing and see if we can uncover what's hidden on it.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello!" Don called as he walked into his brother's house.

"Hey, Donnie," Alan called back as he was playing chess with Larry in the living room. "Charlie's in the garage."

"Thanks."

"Anything new with the case?" Larry asked.

"Na," Don answered. "LAPD noise reports were a dead end, there's no way we can get anything out of that."

"So, Charlie said you have no idea what happened?" Alan asked, glancing up at his son before moving his queen.

"Not a clue. You know, there was blood on the scene, enough to suspect murder or very serious injury, we could be looking for a body, but there's just nothing to go on."

"Nothing?"

"Well, Megan has a theory but, I don't know, it's not very strong."

"Is this the...ah...cult thing she mentioned?" Larry asked, waving a chess piece around before making his move.

"Yeah, why, you think she's onto something?"

"I can't say. Sounds probable but, like you said, there's not much to go on," Larry pondered as Charlie walked in through the kitchen.

"Oh, hey, Don. Amita's working on that SD card. There's definitely something hidden on there, but it's all in some sort of code so we're trying to crack it."

"Yeah? What do you think, files or pictures?"

"It's too early to tell, but we're getting there."

"Alright, keep me posted."

"Donnie, ah, I know this probably isn't a good time with the case and all, but tell your agents that they're all welcome to our Halloween party on Saturday if you guys can make it."

"Is this where we all wear costumes?" Don asked.

"Yes," Alan smirked. "I'm requiring them."

"I already have mine," Larry stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah?" Don smirked. Larry didn't respond. "Oh, what, is yours a surprise too?"

"Want to make it interesting," Alan said. "And, Donnie, no one dresses up as FBI agents."

Don laughed.

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"Not fresh?" David repeated the words Kailey had just read off the lab's report on the blood.

"What does that even mean?" Colby asked.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? That's all it says!" Kailey exclaimed in her frustration. She had worked cases like this back with LAPD and a lot of them had gone cold. Her fellow officers had tried their best, but knew when to let a case go. Here at the FBI, however, Don and the others were really determined not to let anything go cold, even if nothing was turning up.

"It means it wasn't drawn at the scene," Megan calmly said as she joined the trio in their cubicle.

"Did I miss a class at Quantico or something?" Colby asked, rolling his eyes at the smirk Megan was giving the three of them. "Blood 102?"

Megan laughed. "No, I just got back from the lab asking the same question."

"Oh, so that's not the Megan 'you guys are stupid' look, that's the 'I just beat you guys to the answer' look," Colby cleared up.

"Gotta keep 'em straight, man," David said.

"No, no," Kailey pondered. "I think it's the 'you guys better love me because I just found something important' look."

"She's putting you to shame, boys," Megan laughed. "The techs were able to identify three different blood types and each type equaled to exactly one liter of blood."

"Exactly?" David asked.

"Exactly," Megan nodded.

"Well, if we're still going with your cult theory, that narrows down potential rituals."

"Right, gives us a better profile at which cult we're looking at."

"The ones who are more particular and detailed," David agreed.

"Don't just stop there," Liz said, joining them. "I've got something else that will help narrow down our list. We ran the DNA from the three blood types across the databases... all three of them popped up in the blood donor database. All three of our "victims" are still alive."

"So, we're looking for a detailed ritual that doesn't require a death sacrifice."

"Yep, and get this, last week, the blood donation center had a break-in and reported several liters of blood missing."

"LAPD?" Megan asked.

"I've got them sending over the reports now."

"Alright. Boys, stay on the cult rituals, Kailey, why don't you head with Liz and check over those robbery reports then head to the blood center for your own interviews. I'll go call Don."


	4. Chapter 4

"Coffee!" Alan called as he entered the garage where Charlie and Amita were working and Larry was staring at Charlie's equations on the blackboards.

"Thanks Dad," Charlie said, taking two cups from Alan and placing one by Amita.

"Alan, did you get that candy bucket?" Amita asked, not taking her eyes of the screen.

"Better, I got one of those bowls that the hand comes down on you," Alan laughed.

"Really going all out on this, aren't you?" Charlie asked.

"That a problem?" Alan asked.

"No," Charlie laughed, "of course not. Where's Don?"

"Stepped outside on the phone," Alan said.

"Must be Megan," Larry pipped up. "We were having a conversation when the lab called her."

"Well, I hope they found something. I can't remember you guys working on a case with this few leads," Alan remarked. "At this rate, there will be no Halloween party."

"Not if I have something to do with it," Amita smirked. "I think I got it. Yeah, here we go."

"Pictures," Charlie remarked.

"Pictures?" Don asked, coming into the garage and putting his phone back in his belt. "Of what?"

"That's a good question," Amita said. "It looks like a tunnel."

"A tunnel?" Alan and Don asked together. They both looked over Amita's shoulders.

"Where though?" Don asked as Amita flipped through the pictures.

"You know, this...this looks familiar," Alan said thoughtfully.

"Yeah?" Don asked.

"I'd have to dig through my stuff from city planning, but I'm pretty sure I'd be able to find this for you."

"Alright, meet me at the FBI, we'll get the teamed briefed.

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"We're looking at one of two places," Alan informed Don and his team. "Most likely you're looking at the tunnel here, just a few miles from your crime scene. But the other tunnel that matches the photos is located on the North side."

"Right, well, keeping with Megan's cult theory we could be looking at a second location up on the North side. Megan, Liz, head up there and check it out. Colby, take Kailey and check out the one by the crime scene. David and I will head back to the post office. I have this feeling we overlooked something."

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"Looks like no one's been in here for years," Liz said as she and Megan walked along the North tunnel with flashlights in hand.

"Make sure you're looking at the walls," Megan said.

"Ritual markings?"

"You don't have to sound so sarcastic," Megan said.

"After looking at those files, I'm seeing markings everywhere," Liz said. "Like at the coffee shop this morning."

Megan laughed.

"Never had a dry case, huh?"

"My slow cases in narcotics were only because we were trying to find our suspects. Never gone this long without having brought in at least one person for questioning."

"I can't even say 'you get used to it'," Megan said, rolling her eyes. "Maybe this whole cult thing just threw us way off track."

"Don't go blaming yourself," Liz said. "Don wouldn't have stuck with it this long if he thought it was a bad idea. Actually, I don't think any of us would have if we didn't all at least half agree with you. You heard what Kailey said, LAPD covers dozens of these around this time. It's a good start."

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"North tunnel is all clear, we're headed your way."

Liz's voice over the comm broke the silence as Colby and Kailey wandered further down the tunnel.

"Great, now it's down to us to find something or this case goes bust," Colby scuffed.

"But no pressure," Kailey joked. "Man, we never had something drag on like this. Things just go cold somethings. I mean, I know, this isn't LAPD..."

"This is a dry one even for us. But, I'll give you credit, you're doing way better than I would have."

"What do you mean?"

"You have way more patience than I did as a rookie."

"Ah," Kailey said, suddenly laughing.

"What?"

"Yeah, David told me about some of the things that went down when you first started." Colby rolled his eyes. "Oh, so they are true," she teased.

"Colb, you guys find anything?" Don's voice came suddenly over the comm.

"Nothing yet, Don, but we still have lots of tunnel left," Colby answered.

"Colby, do you see that?" Kailey asked.

"Yeah," came the answer. "Hey, Don, we're seeing light about fifty yards down."

"Keep me posted and be careful."

Colby and Kailey continued cautiously towards the soft glow. Guns at the ready, they cleared the area before looking up at the light that was coming from cracks on the ceiling of the tunnel.

"It's a door," Kailey noted, looking at the hinging. "And definitely not as old as this tunnel."

"To where though?" Colby asked, before turning to his comm. "Yeah, Don, we've got a trapdoor here, probably new," he said, giving Kailey a weird look as she was counting something on her fingers. "What?" he asked her.

"I think we're under the post office."


	5. Chapter 5

**I apologize for the somewhat lame explanatory ending to this chapter. I haven't quite gotten the hang of writing scenes with lots of action.**

Charlie was anxiously staring at his phone, waiting for Don to call them to see if they had found anything. He could tell by the look at Amita's face that she was thinking the same thing; if the pictures were a dead end, Don was going to have to let this case go cold. It was something neither of them had seen him do since they had begun working with him three years ago. Charlie rubbed his forehead.

"There's gotta be something there," he mumbled aloud.

"Why do I get the feeling we're missing something?" Amita asked, looking over the pictures again on the screen.

"Because everyone is missing something, like clues to this case," Charlie said, feeling hopeless.

"No, no, we did miss something," Alan said suddenly. He had been bent over his city planning maps for quite some time now. "Or should I say, I missed something.

"What?"

"Look here. Okay, this is the entrance to the tunnel where Colby and Kailey went in. Follow the tunnel," Alan traced the line with his finger, "look, it goes right under the post office. Now, if you continue to follow it," Alan jabbed his finger at the map, "it goes right under there, too."

"Good work, Alan," Amita grinned as Charlie ran to across the room to his computer and scooped up his phone.

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"I don't understand how we missed this," Don said, giving Colby a hand as he climbed through the trapdoor and into the mailroom.

"Whoever did this sure knows what they were doing," Liz said, examining the hinges on the door.

"All they did was use the lines of the hardwood floor and the edge of this counter to disguise the door," Megan said, sounding mildly impressed.

"Guys, I hate to be negative, but this only gives us another mystery, not a solution," Kailey said.

"She's right," Don said right before his phone rang. "It's Charlie. Hey, buddy, we found a trapdoor leading to the tunnel in the mailroom."

_ "Okay, well, that fits the new theory."_

"New theory?"

_"Yeah, Donnie,"_ Alan's voice came; Charlie obviously had him on speaker, _"I looked closely at the route of the tunnel and realized that it passes directly under both the post office and First National Bank about a half-mile West of you."_

"First National Bank?" Don asked, putting his phone on speaker too as everyone came closer to hear what was going on.

_ "Yeah, I think we're looking at bank robbers,"_ Charlie explained. _"The corner where Kailey and Colby entered the tunnel has quite a few security cameras. If someone is going to try robbing the bank from underground, they wouldn't want to enter from there. The post office is the only other building the is directly over the tunnel."_

"Charlie, what about the actual scene in the post office then?" Megan asked.

_"Well, I think Kailey already answered that question."_

"I did?" Kailey said uncertainly.

_ "Yes. You said it yourself, LAPD deals with a lot of ritual-based cases this time of year. Because police were being called because people saw activity in the post office, our bank robbers probably decided to create a scene that would throw authorities off. That's probably why we can't find any good links to any of those cults Megan looked up."_

"Alright," Don said. "Hey, thanks guys, we're going to go check it out." Don hung up the phone. "Megan, call LAPD for backup. Let's get out of here. We're getting close to the time all the police reports were made. If we're lucky we'll catch a break."

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Don separated the team again, sending LAPD officers to each location. Liz and Megan went to head the robbers off at the bank; Colby and Kailey back to the origin of the tunnel to block the escape route, while he and David sat on the post office. Within an hour, David noticed five figures enter the post office. Giving them a lead, Don instructed the LAPD officers to stay in the post office while he and David followed the men through the tunnel. They found the men climbing up through another trap door under the bank.

"FBI, freeze!" Don said, aiming his gun. Two of the men escaped through the door but Don heard Liz, Megan, and the officers quickly place them under arrest. Suddenly, one of the men took off down the tunnel.

"Colby, coming your way buddy," David said, as he and Don placed the other two under arrest.

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Kailey and Colby could hear the man's footsteps approaching. At the last moment, Kailey stepped into the middle of the tunnel. The man crashed into her and fell over.

"Nice," Colby said, putting handcuffs on the man and handing him over to LAPD. They followed the squad car to the FBI where Don and the others were already questioning the other suspects. They met up with Don and Matt Li, the FBI technician, who were monitoring the interviews in the box.

"Guy with Megan is apparently the lead, John Ford," Matt informed them immediately. "He's wanted in Nevada for robbery too. Megan's been on him pretty hard, but he's not budging."

"Doesn't look like David's having much luck, either," Colby noted, looking into the second box where David was having a stare down with the suspect.

"Yeah, we'll let them run with it for a little while longer," Don said, rubbing his chin in thought. "Liz has this one talking."

Matt switched the audio over.

"...dunno how he actually found us. Must of heard through somewhere," the man was telling Liz. "He already had the city blueprints and a plan made out when we all met up the first time. When we all thought the police were getting close, we staged the scene, knowing Halloween was a popular time for weirdo activity."

"So Charlie was right," Kailey noted.

"Yeah," Don said, signaling for Megan, Liz, and David to exit the rooms. Colby and Kailey followed him out to the bullpen. "Alright, we've got enough information out of these guys to hand this over to another team."

Everyone stared at him; it wasn't like Don to abruptly stop a case and hand it over.

"Are you doing okay?" David asked.

Don laughed.

"Look guys, it's been a long one. I'm sure everyone is sick of seeing the same files. And, my dad is going to be pretty pissed if we all miss that party of his tomorrow. So, fill out you're reports and go home."

"Okay, hey, I like this," Megan grinned.

"Yeah, don't get used to it though," Don smiled. "And remember, no one dresses as an FBI agent or any type of cop for this party," he laughed.


	6. Chapter 6

Don sighed as he entered his apartment. He had just returned from all the costume shops he could find. With Halloween being the next day, most of the shops were all out of any "good" costumes. He didn't want to disappoint his father, but he had no idea what he would do. As he made a move to sit down on his couch, his phone rang.

"Hey," he answered, seeing Charlie's name on his screen.

"Don, hey, you wouldn't want to come early tomorrow, would you? Dad's preparing a feast again, just trying to prevent another mess."

Don laughed.

"Yeah, sure. I'll come if I can show my face."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ah...I got wrapped up in this case, didn't make time for anything else. The costumes shops are wiped clean of anything. And you know Dad, he's going to be disappointed."

"I don't think Dad expected that case to go as long as it did. Look, Don, go to your closet. I'm pretty sure that you have at least two things you could use as costumes. In fact, I'm sure of it."

"What are you talking about, Charlie?"

"Just go look. I'll see you tomorrow."

Don's phone went dead as Charlie hung up. Sighing again, he made his way to his bedroom and opened the closet door. His wardrobe was pretty simple: jeans, t-shirts for casual days, and suits for the FBI. But then, he noticed the back right-hand corner. He pulled out two hangers and laid them on the bed.

"Nice, Charlie," he commented quietly, staring at his old baseball and hockey jerseys. "That'll do."

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"Oh, wow," Megan said, looking at all the decorations Alan had put up on the front porch.

"Yes," Larry said. "I'm increasingly getting scared of what Alan and Amita can do when they put their heads together."

"I'm sure," Megan laughed. She played with the collar of Larry's shirt. "Are you sure this isn't cheating?" she asked of his NASA uniform. "I mean, Alan wouldn't let us come as FBI agents."

"I am no longer working for NASA for one," Larry reminded her, "and two, I think that was merely Alan telling Don that he wanted effort, instead of just coming from work."

"Well, at least I know I'm not the only one who just picked something out of their dresser," Megan said, looking down at her Krav Maga uniform as another car pulled up behind them.

"Yes, I'd say you're definitely not the only one," Larry said as David and Colby got out of the car.

"What?" David asked, following Megan's gaze and looking down at his Lakers jersey, shorts, and basketball shoes. "I didn't have anything else, okay?"

"We can't feel too bad," Colby said, dressed in his old army uniform from Afghanistan. "A day ago we didn't even know if we were going to make it."

Kailey's car pulled up behind David's.

"Well, at least someone got a little creative," Megan said. Kailey had taken an old blue jumpsuit and combined it with a red bandana in her hair. "You look exactly like one of those old posters, Rosie," she teased Kailey.

"It was either this or resort to last year's costume, but _some people_ don't approve of my previous choices."

Colby chuckled guiltily and Megan raised an eyebrow at the two. The group made their way up to the door and Larry rang the doorbell. Charlie and Amita answered the door, smiling. Charlie was in a brown pinstripe suit and had on checker rimmed glasses while Amita wore a pink sock hop dress.

"Sweet," David smiled, approving of their costumes. "The Doctor and Rose."

"The what and who?" Colby asked. He wasn't the only one. Only David and Larry seemed to appreciate the professors' costumes.

"Doctor Who, it's a British TV show," David tried to explain. Colby just nodded slowly. It was one aspect of his partner he'd never understand. They all piled into the house. Don was already in the living room.

"See Megan? Even the boss came in something dug up from his closet," Colby said.

"I'm going to go help Alan with the food," Amita said while everyone started to sit.

"Oh, I'll help," Megan said.

"Me too," Kailey answered.

The three entered the kitchen where Alan, dressed as Albert Einstein, was pouring chips onto a platter.

"Nice costume, Alan," Megan grinned.

"I thought so," Alan said, his eyes twinkling. "Besides, I think it's high-time I get to be the genius for once," he winked, making them laugh.

"Yeah, I think we all wish that sometimes," Kailey agreed. Alan handed each of them a platter with various snacks and they all entered the living room.

"Here we go," Alan said. "Main course is in the oven. I was also thinking that we could all take turns and hand out the candy to the kids once the trick-or-treating starts in the neighborhood."

"Sounds good," David said, his eyes on the kitchen. Everyone else agreed.

N3N3N3N3N3

Some time after dinner, Colby found himself out on the porch handing out the last bit of candy with Kailey. The trick-or-treating was coming to an end, and there weren't very many kids coming up to the porch anymore. Kailey had her face tilted to the warm sun. It was really uncanny how closely she had been able to resemble the old Rosie the Riveter posters, right down to perfectly applied make-up. Kailey caught him staring and smirked.

"Better costume, huh?" she teased him. Colby laughed, not even blushing. For some reason, he wasn't even a little embarrassed about their recent conversations. Maybe it was because she didn't seem embarrassed either or maybe because she empathized with guys more than girls; Colby didn't know.

"It does look good," he commented. "So you really had me in mind when you thought of it, huh?" he teased back.

"I was going to do this whether we had a week to go costume shopping or not," Kailey said. "But yeah, I guess I did."

An awkward moment passed between them, the first Colby could remember happening. He hesitated, but then leaned over, brushed her bangs out of her face, and kissed her.

N3N3N3N3N3

"Doesn't seem like Alan is too upset at any of our costumes," David said to Megan as they stood in the living room.

"Well, I hate to admit it, but Colby was right; no one knew if we'd be able to solve that case on time," Megan said. "Just don't tell Colby I said that," she added, laughing.

"We'd never hear the end of it," David agreed, laughing as well.

"Where is he, anyway?"

"It was his and Kailey's turn for the candy," David said, nodding at the front door. Megan checked her watch.

"Trick or treating ended 20 minutes ago," she frowned, walking over to the window. "Well, it's about damn time."


End file.
